The field of the invention is accessories for internal combustion engines, and the invention relates more particularly to replacement starter motors for the repair and maintenance of internal combustion engines.
Starter motors are made in many different styles and configurations. Many of them are direct-drive starters where the armature of the starter motor has a pinion gear on its shaft which meshes with the flywheel of the engine during starting. Other designs are gear reduction types in which the armature rotates at a higher R.P.M. and operates through an idler gear to drive the pinion gear at the desired R.P.M. Gear reduction starters tend to be smaller in size.
Because of the vast number of models of starter motors, the cost of stocking a reasonable inventory of starter motors is very high and this high cost must, of course, be passed on to the consumer. Some attempts have been made to adapt a starter motor made for one engine to a different engine. One such approach is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,155,266 where a high-priced aircraft starter motor was replaced with a less expensive automotive starter motor through the use of a unique starter motor support manufactured for this purpose.
Another use of a substitute starter motor is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,362,065. This also utilizes a newly developed endcap assembly and pinion sleeve. A further starter motor conversion is illustrated but not described in Design Patent No. D287,129 which adapts a Hitachi starter motor to a General Motors engine. While such approaches are useful for the particular purposes described therein, they do not provide a universal starter motor which can be used on a wide variety of different engines.